Taking Care
by fandomfan13
Summary: "Now it was Saturday and her mom was leaving for Texas for a couple of days, so she'd asked me to take care of Emily while she was away. Well, it would be more accurate to say that Emily had insisted I be the one to stay over instead of one of her mom's old relatives. It took some coaxing... but Mrs. Fields had finally given the okay."
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! **

**So here's the first chapter of the story I was talking about. I wasn't planning on posting it just yet, or even writing it yet for that matter, until I finished On the Run, but this got into my head yesterday and wouldn't let me go until I wrote it out. Now that I got it out of the way I can get back to writing the next chapter for my other story. **

**Hope you guys like it! Please let me know what you think! :)**

**Enjoy! xoxo **

* * *

8:17am.

_Crap_.

I ran up those last few steps to Emily's house and rang the doorbell, cursing both myself for not getting my lazy ass out of bed when the alarm went off and the weather for being so unnaturally cold for fall. We were half way through November and it was already one of the coldest freaking winters we've had in years. It had yet to snow, thank God, but weather broadcasters were already predicting snowfall towards the end of their ten day forecast.

I shuddered when a strong gust of wind tore through Emily's front porch. I blew into my cupped hands before wrapping my arms around myself and rubbing my hands over my arms, adjusting the bags hanging on my forearms and praying that someone would hurry up and open the damn door – even through the long sleeves of both my dress and my coat, I could feel the cold seeping in right through to my bones.

"Alison!" Mrs. Fields finally opened the door, greeting me with a warm smile. Her eyes widened as the wind picked up again, sending a cool draft through the door. "Goodness, it's cold outside! Come in, come in. You must be freezing!"

"Sorry I'm late, Mrs. Fields." I said as she ushered me inside, sighing when warm, cozy air fanned into my face. I caught sight of the fireplace crackling softly in the living room and the air smelled sugary sweet, already reminiscent of the holidays to come. Emily's place was always the homiest out of all of our houses, a fact I was recently very thankful for since my own house was everything but these days and I found myself finding refuge here more and more often.

"Oh, it's no problem at all. In fact, I was running a little late myself. Here, I'll take these," Mrs. Fields grabbed the bags out of my hands and gestured to something behind me. "And you can put your coat and scarf over there on that rack if you want. Let me just put these here," She placed my bag on the couch as I dropped off my winter clothes by the door. I turned back to find her by my side, placing her hand on my shoulder and leading me towards the kitchen. "I have some hot chocolate for you girls in the kitchen. I thought it might come in handy with this weather we're having lately, plus seems it's the only thing Emily can hold down early in the mornings."

"Oh, is Emily up already?" I asked, surprised.

"I wanted to make sure she took her medicine before I left," Mrs. Fields replied, though by her tone I could guess she'd had a hard time doing so. "She's not very happy I woke her up for that but – well, you'll see in a second."

I smirked, imagining exactly how happy Emily was with being woken up at this hour, especially for medicine.

Emily had come down with what the girls and I had dubbed as the mother of all flus brought on by the mother of all cold fronts. She'd come to school on Monday looking tired and run down, complaining about not getting any sleep the night before. The other girls had immediately turned to me with suggestive eyes, since it was nothing out of the ordinary that we both arrive to school lacking sleep from any…stimulating activities we might have managed to sneak in the night before, but this time I'd sincerely had nothing to do with it.

During the day she was a wreck. She always sits in front of me during our history class – which this year is like the most boring class in the entire curriculum – and ever since I could remember, she would sit behind me in every boring class and play with my hair per my request. Only now that we're together I've gotten to sit behind her for a change and keep myself busy while our teacher blabs on. Emily loves it when I play with her hair, and normally it just keeps her in a daze while I do it, but that day it barely took five minutes of me touching her before she was out like a light. And later that day in study hall, we'd agreed to review for a chemistry test we had on Wednesday, but as soon as we sat down, she laid her head in my lap and zonked out before I could even open my text book. By the end of the day I'd had to drive her home because she could barely keep her eyes open.

Then on Tuesday she arrived late and only stayed for half the day, since she spent third period throwing up in the bathroom with Spencer holding her hair back. Her mom picked her up after that and she hasn't been to school since. I called her every single day to check up on her since I was having some serious Emily withdrawals, but on Thursday she called me instead to ask me to stop by because according to her, she missed me like crazy and was a few attempted sponge baths away from strangling her mother.

Now it was Saturday and her mom was leaving for Texas for a couple of days, so she'd asked me to take care of Emily while she was away. Well, it would be more accurate to say that Emily had insisted I be the one to stay over instead of one of her mom's old relatives. It took some coaxing, now that we were officially together and her mom knew the extent of our relationship, but after Emily begged for a solid three hours – and I know this because she had me on the phone while she did it – Mrs. Fields had finally given the okay.

We rounded the corner to the kitchen to find a sight that both warmed my heart and made it clench in sympathy. Emily was sitting on one of the stools at the counter, both hands folded out in front of her with her forehead resting on her arms, three pills and a glass of water placed by her head. By her breathing, which sounded uncomfortably congested, I could tell she wasn't fully asleep, but she was well on her way.

Mrs. Fields sighed in exasperation, taking four steps in a stride to stand over her daughter authoritatively. Leaning against the door frame, I winced to myself for what was about to happen. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"Emily," Pam shook her daughter's shoulder forcefully, startling the poor girl awake. "Take your prescriptions, I'm not leaving here until you do."

Emily groaned, only readjusting her head on her arms without looking up at her mother. "I'm sick of these pills, they're messing up my stomach."

"The pills aren't messing up your stomach, Emmy," I grinned at that nickname, knowing how much it annoyed Emily when her parents called her that. For a while I started calling her that too just to take the mickey out of her, but she'd threatened me with no sex for a week, and – well, nothing would really be worth that in the long run. "The flu is, and you're never going to get better unless you take them and unless you _eat_. So hurry up, you're going make me late for my flight."

"No."

Pam turned to me with a pointed look, mouthing _See?_ as she rolled her eyes. I smiled and silently gestured for her to let me try. She gave me a nod and stepped around the counter to grab something from the cabinets over the stove as I pushed off the wall and silently padded over to my drowsy girlfriend. I had a feeling Emily had yet to realize I was there, and something told me she'd soften up once she saw me.

I placed my hand over the fingers peeking out from under her elbow and leaned down to murmur in her ear, "Take your meds, Emmy, I can't kiss you if you don't."

What would have been a sharp intake of breath came out sounding more like her trying to breathe through her clogged up nose, but I'd barely gotten my sentence out when she looked up at me with the biggest smile I'd seen on her since she'd gotten sick. It took two seconds for her brow to furrow as she realized what I'd just called her, to which I only responded with a smirk.

"Did you just call me Emmy?" she asked, and she would have succeeded in sounding vaguely threatening had she not hiccupped afterwards.

"Hi, baby." I laughed, cupping her face in my hands and kissing her forehead softly. Her cheeks felt unnaturally hot against my palms, and now that I looked closely I noticed a reddish haze tinting her skin. I turned to Pam with a worried frown. "She's really running a fever, huh."

"Of a hundred and one." Mrs. Fields replied with a nod. She was filling two mugs with steaming hot chocolate from a pan that had been standing on the stove, and she topped them off with cinnamon before pushing them towards us.

Emily reached for her mug, but I grabbed the pills from the counter and quickly pushed the pills into the palm of her hand, closing her fingers into a fist around them.

"Pills," I demanded firmly when she looked to me. Her eyes flashed in annoyance – she detested when I used that tone of voice, and honestly I did too. It reminded me a little too much of my old ways, of the person I'd vowed I'd never regress to. But I grit my teeth and stood my ground, making a note to apologize to her later. "Now."

She held my stare for a few moments, glaring daggers that, again, would have been more menacing had she not looked as tired as she did. Finally she just huffed and popped them into her mouth, downing them with one large gulp of water.

Mrs. Fields's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I'm starting to think I made the right choice by calling you, Alison."

Emily rolled her eyes as I giggled, leaning against her chair and wrapping my arm around her shoulders. "Love you, babe." I whispered, nuzzling my nose against her cheek.

She hummed her agreement nonchalantly, taking a careful sip of her mug. I pouted when she wouldn't look at me, so I grabbed her face in my hands and planted a long kiss on her cheek, finally making her smile.

A car honked outside, and Mrs. Fields looked at her watch in alarm. "Oh! That's my cab. I have to go get my bags." She wiped her hands off hastily with the dish rag and threw us a smile. "You girls finish up here, I'll be right back."

I grabbed a chair and pulled my mug towards me as Mrs. Fields rushed upstairs. The first taste of hot chocolate in my mouth had me sighing in bliss. Emily's mom always made the _best_ hot chocolate. I remember spending winter nights over here while my parents were away on business. Mrs. Fields would always let us help bake the Christmas cookies while she made us our drinks. Then we'd sit by the fireplace and watch old Christmas specials, Emily and I dunking our cookies into each other's mugs. Even back then I'd known my relationship with Emily was special – I never did things like that with anyone else but her − but it took a good couple of years for me to understand why.

"I'm so glad you're here, Ali."

Emily was resting her head against the counter again, but she'd placed her cheek against the marble so she could look at me. She had dark circles under her eyes, her eyelids half closed with drowsiness, but even through her daze I could see relief in both her eyes and her smile.

I smiled in return, running my hand up and down her back soothingly. "There's nowhere I'd rather be, Em."

Emily snorted. "Yeah, give yourself an hour. You'll be begging to get out."

I leaned forward to press a kiss to her shoulder. "Never."

Hurried clacking of heals sounded through the kitchen before Mrs. Fields came back, two heavy bags in hand. Emily sat up, smirking as we watched her mom pat herself hastily to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything.

"I think you're good, Mom." Emily teased.

Mrs. Fields failed to pick up on her daughter's teasing as she absently nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'd better go." Rounding the kitchen counter, she placed a hand on Emily's shoulder as she turned to me. "There's a list of instructions for her medicine on the fridge as well as a few emergency numbers you can call should anything happen. I have Ashley Marin on call too, just in case you need any adult help."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Ali's not five, Mom. We'll be fine."

I bit back a laugh at Mrs. Fields's exasperated sigh. "Thanks, Mrs. Fields. I'll be sure to check the list once Emily's resting."

That seemed to calm her down, for she smiled and kissed the top of Emily's head. "Alright. I'll check in tonight to see how you're doing. I love you, sweetheart."

"Love you too, Mom."

After giving me a quick hug, Mrs. Fields adjusted her hold on her bags and ambled swiftly to the foyer. The draft that came in when she opened the front door made Emily shudder, but the relieved sigh my mermaid released had me stifling a snicker behind my hand.

"Thank God, she's gone." Emily breathed, dropping her head on to the counter again. "She's been driving me insane."

"Oh come on, she can't be that bad." I argued lightly, brushing her hair off her shoulder.

She turned her head to look at me, eyebrows raised. "My mother has been trying to give me sponge baths for the last week because she doesn't trust that I won't fall in the shower by myself, and she expects you to give me sponge baths too."

I laughed. Pam Fields was definitely something, alright. Give her a sponge bath when we have the house to ourselves? As if. Wagging my eyebrows suggestively, I trailed my index finger down her arm, raising goosebumps over her skin.

"I can give you much more than a sponge bath," I murmured softly.

Emily shuddered, her eyes fluttering as she let out a shaky breath. "I am _so _glad you're here."

"You know it, baby." I grinned, sliding off my stool so I could kiss her cheek.

As I took another sip of hot chocolate, I noticed Emily had barely touched hers, and when she yawned wide enough to swallow the mug whole, I realized what her body was asking for. "Wanna head back to bed?"

She nodded once, eyes half closed as she pushed herself to her feet. I grabbed her hand and led her upstairs, noticing with a pang of worry how slow and sluggish her movements were. This thing was hitting her body _hard_, and the cold weather was definitely not helping her.

Once we entered her bedroom, she wasted no time in heading straight to her bed and curling up under the mountain of blankets her mom had no doubt extracted from the depths of their attic. I slipped off my boots and slid in beside her, frowning when she didn't curl up to me like always.

"What are you doing?" I asked, watching her struggle to adjust her pillow comfortably.

"I don't want to get you sick," she explained. The fact that she understood what I meant without even looking at me made me smile.

I rolled my eyes, already scooting closer to her and pulling on her arm. "Don't be ridiculous." When she didn't budge, I tugged harder, throwing in a pout for good measure. "C'mere, you."

Emily sighed, her lips quirking up as if fighting back a smile. She closed the distance between us and laid her head on my chest, her arm coming up to wrap over my stomach while our legs tangled under the sheets. I instantly wrapped my arms around her, my hand going straight to her hair to run my fingers through her soft tresses.

"Mmmm, love you." she breathed sleepily.

I smiled into her hair, letting my lips press against the crown of her head. I loved spending moments like this with her, just cuddling under blankets listening to her sleep. It was always my favorite part of staying over with her. Don't get me wrong, making love to her was the highlight of every sleepover. But it was always the way we'd end up tangled in each other's arms that made my heart flutter happily just thinking about it.

"I love you too." I said. "Get some rest, sweetie."

Emily nodded into my chest, tightening her arm around me as she shifted. It barely took two minutes, but her breathing eventually evened out enough to let me know she was fast asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, I don't even know how to begin to apologize for how late this is. I've been trying to find time to write but it's literally been impossible, buuuuut I promise I'm not giving up on these stories! It may take me some extra time but I will continue updating. Now that I got this chapter out of the way I can work on the last chapter for On the Run, which I will post as soon as it's done! **

**Just in case I disappear again (which I will try not to), I'm using my bio as a way of communicating with you guys and letting you know what's going on. If I'm being held up for whatever reason I'll let you guys know! I will finish these stories and I have a lot of new ideas so I plan to keep writing, even if it takes me forever to update haha sorry guys. **

**Hope you like this new chapter! I didn't proof read it before posting so sorry for any mistakes/awkward language. I have to get back to studying, but let me know what you think! I love reading your reviews, and if you guys have any suggestions as to what you'd like to see in this story feel free to leave a comment or PM me! I don't really have a set plot line for this story so I can play around with it a lot more. **

**Sorry about the delay again! **

**Enjoy! xoxo **

_Zzzz. Zzzzz. _

My eyes opened with a jolt when I felt my phone vibrating on the bed. I hadn't even realized I'd fallen asleep. I'd been watching over Emily for a few minutes, running my fingers through her hair, and at some point I must have dozed off.

_How long have I been out?_

Z_zzz. Zzzz. _

I grabbed my phone, checking to make sure it hadn't bothered Emily. She'd turned over in her sleep, now laying on her side with her back to me. Something so casual like that would mean nothing normally, but Emily _never_ moved in her sleep, especially if I was in bed with her. She'd told me she wasn't sleeping well, so I had to figure out what was making my mermaid so restless so I could get her to sleep at least a few good hours.

_Zzzz. Zzzz. Zzzz. Zzzz._

My phone vibrating for the third time made me roll my eyes. The screen flashed four new text messages from Aria, Spencer, and Hanna, the last two being from the impatient blonde. Unlocking my phone made our group text pop up on screen.

**Aria: Let us know how Em's doing, Ali! **

**Spencer: Please! **

**Hanna: And if she needs anything!**

**Hanna: And my mom says to remind you that she's around if you need any help.**

Emily mumbled something softly and shifted under the blankets, my eyes immediately falling to her to watch for any sign of distress as my hands absently typed up a quick response to the girls. A few moments passed without her moving, so I let myself give the message I'd typed a quick once over before sending it.

**Me: Sure thing, girls. She went back to sleep once her mom left so I'll see how she's doing during the day. And thanks, Han. I'll let you know if she needs anything. **

Suddenly Emily whimpered and she sat up harshly with a gasp, eyes wide and alarmed, sucking in desperate, uneven breaths.

"Emily!" I cried, scrambling to sit up as her breaths quickly turned to deep, chest wrenching coughs. She twisted to face me quickly, her eyes calming down significantly once they landed on me even as her coughing continued. I cupped one of her cheeks in my hand as I ran the other up and down her back soothingly. "Breathe, baby, breathe. That's it, slow breaths, Em."

Her eyes stayed glued to mine as she tried to match my breaths, her coughs slowly but surely dying down. It took a few minutes but they finally stopped, leaving her panting with her eyes closed in exhaustion, leaning into my hand that was still on her cheek.

"Look at me baby," I urged quietly, cradling both of her cheeks when she looked up at me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she panted, nodding carefully. I let my hands drop as hers reached up to rub at her eyes wearily, and it struck me how vulnerable she looked like this. "I'm – I'm fine. It was just a stupid nightmare again."

I felt myself frowning in worry. "Since when are you having nightmares?"

Emily laid back down against her pillow, curling up on her side facing me. "Mostly just this week. My mom says it's probably because of the fever."

Immediately I reached out and placed my palm against her cheek again, feeling her temperature. She was still warm, but her pills had brought the fever down considerably. "Is that why you haven't been sleeping?"

She nodded sleepily, turning her face into my hand and kissing my palm. "The nightmare wakes me up, but the coughing keeps me up a while."

I sighed dejectedly, bending down to kiss her forehead. She was never going to really get better if she didn't sleep, but if the fever was the main reason behind her insomnia then there wasn't much for her to do other than just ride it out.

"What time is it?"

I reached for my phone where it lay forgotten at the edge of the bed, hitting the home button so the lock screen would light up. "Almost ten thirty." Damn, I'd slept for almost two hours. Feeling my stomach grumble and figuring it was a good idea to get some food into Emily anyways, I threw the sheets off and swung my legs off the bed. "Do you want to stay in bed for a little while longer or do you want to come downstairs with me?"

Emily reached out for my hands and I helped pull her to a sitting position. "Downstairs. I've spent enough time in bed this week." She pushed herself to her feet and arched her back, stretching her arms above her head. "Give me a sec to change and go to the bathroom."

Nodding, I sat down at her window sill for a few minutes while she was in the bathroom, hearing the toilet flush and the sound of running water in the sink. Emily came out, looking slightly more refreshed and awake, and headed to her dresser to pull out a fresh set out clothes. She had her back to me as she yanked off her pajamas, standing only in her panties. My eyes traveled down her strong, bare back, over the curve of her underwear and down her long, lean legs, desire clenching in my stomach.

I smirked to myself, almost hearing Hanna's voice in my head should she know what I was thinking.

_God, Ali, the poor girl's dying over there. Keep it in your pants._

That thought sobered me up quickly. My poor girl _had_ been dying all week. She looked like she'd lost a little weight, and I remembered a conversation I'd had with her mom on Thursday when I'd come to visit, when she'd told me Emily had been basically skipping two, if not all, of her meals every day since the start of the week, and the little she did ingest was usually thrown up several hours later.

I had to get her to eat again, but first…

Pushing myself to my feet, I silently padded over to her. She was trying to decipher the tangled mess that was her shirt when I wrapped my arms around her naked waist. Her skin felt unnaturally hot against my cold hands and she shuddered at my touch, but I couldn't see her face so I couldn't tell if her goosebumps were fever-induced or Ali-induced, though hopefully the latter. I brushed her hair to the side, exposing her neck to me, and started trailing kisses down to her shoulder.

"Mmmm." Emily sighed, leaning into me.

I smiled against her skin as her head dropped back against my shoulder. It was crazy how responsive she was to my touches.

"As amazing as this feels," she breathed, making me pause. "I'm about two seconds away from kissing you senseless, and I don't want to get you sick."

I giggled, leaving one last kiss right behind her ear for good measure before stepping away. "Sorry, couldn't resist." I grabbed the shirt from her hands and started untangling it myself as I said, "Besides, any more of that and you'll catch pneumonia in this freaking cold."

Emily nodded her agreement even as she shivered while she pulled up her sweatpants. Finally I handed her back her shirt so she could quickly slip it on before throwing a sweatshirt over it. She turned to me, hands coming up to rest on my neck as she pressed a long kiss to my cheek, smiling against my skin as she nuzzled softly with her nose.

"That's the best I can do for now."

I smiled as she pulled back, brushing a lock of her hair out of her eyes lovingly. "You're more than enough for me, sweetie."

A deep shudder ran through her again, breaking our little moment. My brow creased in worry as I bit down on my lower lip, not liking how much this cold was affecting her. I pried one of her hands off my neck to lace our fingers together and pull her to the door.

"Do you need to bring anything downstairs?" I asked, suddenly thinking she might be more comfortable with actual pillows and her duvet.

Emily shook her head as we descended the stairs. "My mom basically set up a twenty-four hour day bed in the living room so it's fine."

Sure enough, as soon as we stepped into the living room I caught sight of the overflowing amount of blankets and pillows settled neatly on the couch.

"I think your mom didn't want us spending too much time in the bedroom," I said with a smirk, wagging my eyebrows playfully.

Emily laughed. "That's probably so true."

I brought our joined hands to my lips and kissed her fingers before nudging her to the couch. "You get settled in, I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" she pouted as she sat down.

"To the kitchen," I laughed, already half way out of the room. "You need to eat, babe."

Emily scrunched up her nose at that, shaking her head with an obviously fake shudder. "Ew. Please, no food."

"You need to eat, Em." I repeated in a firmer voice, raising an eyebrow challengingly.

"I'm really not hungry, Ali." she insisted, almost as a whine.

I sighed, rolling my eyes, choosing to ignore the issue now and save the argument for later. With a wave of my hand that told her I'd be back in a moment, I strolled to the kitchen and grabbed the list of instructions Mrs. Fields had left on the fridge for me.

_1.__Ibuprofen – morning and evening _

_** check temperature reading before giving her liquids _

_**thermometer is on the counter _

_2.__Decongestant – 1 a day, preferably at night _

_3.__Cough drops – when needed, in the fridge _

_4.__Antibiotic – 1 a day with meal (usually around lunch)_

_5.__Ear drops – if necessary follow directions _

_6.__FOOD! _

_**please make sure she eats as many meals as possible during the day to keep her blood sugar levels normal, if she skips she'll get dizzy and she'll try to hide it. _

_**lots and lots of fluids! Orange juice, smoothies, water…whatever she'll take. _

The amount of detail in this list of instructions had me chuckling to myself. "Geez, Em. Your mom OCD much?"

I heard her laugh from the living room. "What, you mean her list?"

I called out an "Uh huh" as I gave the list another once over. She'd already taken her morning pills so I just needed to get her to eat a decent meal before giving her the antibiotic. Getting her to eat, though – that would be the problem. I love my mermaid more than my life, but get us to disagree on something and we'd spend hours arguing if that was the case. Something I learned quickly about Emily during our relationship was how strong she'd become, and how freaking stubborn too.

I checked the time on the microwave. It was getting close to eleven already, so either breakfast or lunch could go well. Emily usually preferred a good breakfast over lunch, but I didn't want to go assuming anything since her messed up appetite was pretty unpredictable.

"Em?" I called hesitantly, mentally crossing my fingers, hoping she'd go along with me.

"Yeah?"

"Sweetie, do you want breakfast or lunch?"

I didn't hear a response right away, but I could imagine her sighing. "I really don't want anything right now, Ali."

With a frustrated groan, I placed the list back on the fridge and walked back to the living room. Emily had already settled comfortably on the couch, her body barely visible under the heap of blankets. I smiled despite myself because really, she couldn't look any more adorable if she tried. Emily's eyes landed on me as soon as I walked in and she sent me a weak smile. I sat down on the edge of the couch cushion by what I assumed were her hips and grabbed one of her hands in mine, holding it to my chest.

"Emily, I really need you to eat," I begged, widening my eyes in what I knew was my best pleading look. "For me, baby?"

The torn look on her face almost made me laugh. I knew she couldn't resist me when I looked at her like this, so I could practically see the internal battle raging inside her between her mind and her body.

"Don't do this to me, Ali." she pleaded.

I let myself laugh once, bringing the hand I was holding up to my lips for a kiss. "I have to, sweetie. The last thing I want is for your blood sugar to drop, and if it does, it'll be on me." My lower lip jutted out in a playful pout as I batted my eyelashes. "Please? I'll make your favorite French toast."

Surprisingly, she made a face and shook her head. "My mom tried making them for me last week and I barely got through half before I threw up."

_Damn_, that was my best shot. I bit the inside of my cheek as I ran through the list of Emily's favorite breakfast foods in my head. "Pancakes?"

"Ugh, no."

"Waffles?"

"Nope."

"Cereal?"

"Had it yesterday."

I raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"Twice."

I rolled my eyes. "Eggs?"

"God, no."

_Easy, Alison_. I closed my eyes for a moment, scrambling internally for patience. There had to be something, _anything_, for God's sake, that she would be willing to eat. I was tempted to let her have her way and just give her food whenever her body asked for it, but the memory of the last time her blood sugar levels dropped flashed before my eyes and quickly put that thought to rest.

That day had been a _nightmare_. She'd been up late studying for a Calculus exam the night before and overslept in the morning so she'd skipped breakfast. Then the swim coach called her in during lunch for an impromptu meeting before the big swim meet that afternoon and didn't give her time to grab any food. Hanna had to nearly shove a coffee down her throat as she was leaving for the swim meet, and she'd promised she would grab something on the way over. But apparently that never happened because Spencer got a call about an hour later from Paige, saying Emily had collapsed half way through the meet and needed us to come and get her. We had all been studying at Hanna's when the call came in, so the four of us packed into Spencer's SUV barely before the call was over.

The fact that Paige had been the one to call hadn't even bothered me, something that Hanna so nicely pointed out to me as we were on our way to the meet. I barely paid attention to her at the time since my mind was solely focused on Emily, hoping she was alright. Yet when we finally entered the meet and my eyes landed on Emily, surrounded by the swim team and _Paige_, who'd been stroking her hair and holding her up as Sydney fed her sips of her red Gatorade, I literally felt as if my head were about to explode. Spencer still talks about how the shade of red I turned was _far _from natural. But when Emily's eyes locked on me, every ounce of anger in me faded, and all I could focus on was how _fragile_ she looked. Her face had gone pale and she was shivering in eighty degree weather. Sure, we got some food into her and after a while she was fine, but after that day I promised myself I would never let that happen again.

Then it hit me. _Of course_. She hadn't been able to stomach anything particularly heavy so soon after she'd collapsed that day, so one of the parents that went to watch the meet had gone and bought her a Jamba Juice to get her back on her feet so she could leave and get some actual food. _God_, why hadn't I thought of this before?

"How about a smoothie?" I asked tentatively.

Emily's lips parted as if to speak but she paused, her eyebrows rising casually. "That doesn't sound too bad, actually."

_Finally. _I grinned. "Perfect. Your mom left everything, right?"

She looked at me pointedly. "You do know my mother, don't you?"

"Fair enough," I chuckled, leaning to kiss her forehead before standing up. "Sit tight, babe. I'll be right back."

I was half way out of the room when the doorbell rang. I turned to Emily who looked just as confused as I felt.

"I'm not expecting anyone." she said, brow knitted in confusion as she made to get off the couch.

"Don't get up," I told her. "I'll get it."

Strutting quickly to the door, I peered out the window before opening and caught a glimpse of a beige trench coat standing on the porch. I sighed in relief, thinking it was just one of the girls coming to check on Emily, so I swung open the door without hesitation yet instantly felt myself go stiff.

"Hi, is Emily – oh. Alison."

Clenching my fist behind my back, I did my best to give a tight lipped smile.

"Hi, Paige."


End file.
